Automatic dough feeding machine



Sheet Filed March 24, 1967 INVENTO/e FAUSTQ CELORIO wmmi May 6, 1969 F,CELORIO 3,442,228

AUTOMATIC DOUGH FEEDING MACHINE Filed March 24, 1967 Sheet 3 of 4 i r iT? 4% FAus-r'c CELCJFZJO A 7702 .NEVS

May 6, 1969 Filed March 24, 1967 F CELORIO AUTOMATIC DOUGH FEEDINGMACHINE sneetior l May 6, 1969 Filed March 24,

Sheet 4 of4 l ll ywvevvraz FAu s'ro CELorzlo United, States Patent "ice,22 AUTOMATIC DOUGH EEDING MACHINE Fausto Celon'o, Cumbres de Acultzingo185,.

MexicoCity, Mexico 7 Filed Mar. 24, 1967, Ser. No. 625,748 Int. Cl. A21c11716, GOIf 11700 US. Cl. 107-44 2 Claims ABSTRACT earns DrscLosuRE Adough feeding apparatus having a hopper formedof vertically movablebands feeding dough to a driven screw conveyor which forces the doughthrough an extrusion Qp g I p p Background of the invention The presentinvention relates to a dough feeding machine, and more particularly,relates to a machine for automatically supplyingdough to any suitablereceiving system. I}?

The machine according tothepresent invention funcf tions toautomatically supply dough to a suitable receiving system, and isapplicable to devices such as, for example; machines for makingtortillas (Mexican corn pancakes.) or any other suitable type of machineutilizing dough as a raw material.

The dough processing machines of the conventional type normally'have astorage capacity varying between 30 and 40 kg. Normally an automaticdough processing machine consumes the quantity aforementioned in a moreor less short time. Consequently, the machines must be frequentlyreloaded. Apparently, the aforementioned problem could simply beresolved by augmenting the capacity of the hoppers that form part of theautomatic machines; however, this produces problems which make theincrease of the capacity of the hoppers impractical.

and undesirable. This is true because an increase of the capacity of thehopper in a dough processing machine egg; gravates the already existingproblem of the variation in the dough pressure for a full hopper ascompared with an almost empty Hopper. In other words, when an automaticmachine initiates its operation with its hopper charged with dough toits maximum capacity, the said dough would have to have a certain weightthat causes a given pressure to be exerted on the bottom of the hopper.However, when the hopper is almost empty, the small quantity of doughwill exert much less pressure. Consequently, the dimensions of the doughproduct extruded varies in accordance with the hopper load at the timeof extrusion.

Summary of the invention It is therefore, a primary object of thisinvention to provide a new and improved dough feeding means.

An additional object of this invention is the provision of a new andimproved dough feeding means which provides a constant quantity of doughregardless of the amount of dough in said feeding means.

The objects of this invention are achieved by the provision of a hopperor storage means consisting of generally downwardly movable bands havinga lower opening in which a screw conveyor is mounted. The movable bandsare driven so as to continuously provide dough to the screw conveyorwhich is also driven to force the dough through an extrusion opening.

Brief description of the drawings FIGURE 1 is a back view of the feedingmachine of the present invention.

FIGURE 2 is a side view of the feeding machine.

3,442,228 Patented May 6, 1969 Description of the preferred embodimentReferring. to the drawings, and more particularly to FIGURES 1 and 3,the automatic dough feeding machine of this invention includes a deposithopper or reservoir for the dough formed of four relatively wide movablebelts 10, 12, 13 and 14. Belts 10 and 12 are mounted on upper idlerrollers 16 and lower driven rollers 18 which are in turn journaled onthe machine frame 20 in positions so that belts l0 and 12 are orientedat an angle with respect to the vertical as shown in FIGURE 1. Belts 13and 14 are supported by upper and lower idler rollers 22 and 24respectively which are located in a vertical plane shown in FIGURE 4.Belts 10, 12, 13 and 14 are positioned so that the surface of belts 13and 14 is immediately adjacent the respective edges of belts 10 and 12as shown in FIG- URES 3 and 4. The inwardly facing surfaces of the beltsdefine the side walls of the hopper.

Drive means for belts 10 and 12 comprises an electric motor 26 (FIG. 2)which drives a drive belt 28 connected to the input of a step-downtransmission 30. The output shaft 32 of step-down transmission 30 hasfirst and second sprockets 34 and 36 fixed thereto. A large sprocket 38is journaled for rotation on frame 20 and a drive chain 40 extendsbetween sprocket 36 and sprocket 38. A small sprocket 42 is mounted onthe same shaft as sprocket 38 and drives a roller sprocket 44 which isattached to a shaft 46 upon which the lefthand driven roller 18 ismounted as shown in FIGURE 1. Righthand roller 18 is mounted on shaft 48and has a gear 50 fixed thereto which meshes with a gear -60 on shaft46. Motor 26 is driven in a direction that will cause the inwardlyfacing portions of belts 10 and 12 to move downwardly as viewed in FIG-URE 1. This downward movement effectively constitutes downward movementof the hopper walls formed by belts 10 and 12.

A rotary screw conveyor 62 is mounted on a shaft 64 for rotation and asprocket 66 is afiixed to shaft 64 and is driven by a chain 68 extendingfrom sprocket 34. Screw conveyor 62 is surrounded by a housing 70 andhas an extrusion nozzle opening 72 in its left end as viewed in FIGURE 4and is also open at the top as shown in FIGURES 4 and 6. Rollers 18 arespaced apart a sulficient distance to define an exit passage 76 from thehop per formed of belts 10, 12, 13 and 14. Movement of these beltsforces the dough down into housing 70. Rotation of the screw conveyor 62forces the dough out of the machine by way of extrusion nozzle 72 in anobvious manner.

The operation of the apparatus is very simple in that dough is placedwithin the hopper formed by the inwardly facing surfaces of belts 10,12, 13 and 14. Belts 10 and 12 are driven and force the dough downwardlythrough exit passage 76 into housing 70 to be engaged by the rotatingscrew conveyor 62. Rotation of the screw conveyor extrudes the doughthrough extrusion nozzle 72 in an obvious manner. The downward motion ofthe inwardly facing surfaces of driven belts 10 and 12 obviously causesthe dough to be moved downward and the fact that the dough is engagedwith idler belts 13 and v14 also causes the inwardly facing surfaces ofidler belts 13 and 14 to also move downwardly.

While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated, itshould be understood that various s,44z 228 T3 3 I v 1 s l, n i 3 l 1 av I modifications are contemplated and may obviously be pendent shaft,the second toothed wheel of the inresorted to by those skilled in theart without departing dependentshaft drivingbynieans of a chain a largerfrom the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter diametertoothed wheel? drivingly connected to the defined in the appendedclaims. lower roller of one of the said belts, and a gear also I claim:v v 5 associated with the said one lower roller engaging a 1. Anautomatic dough feeding machine comprising: gear on the lower roller'ofthe other belt to downadeposit hopper for the dough having a pair ofopposedwardly' drive the inner ,runof the said other belt.

inwardly facing walls formed of the inner runs of a 2. The inventionofclaim I wherein said hopper addipair of driven endless belts eachmounted on an uptionally includes first andfsec ond opposite rollersupported per and lower roller, drive means for drivingly mov-' idlerbelts having inner runs forminga pair of spaced ing said inner runs ofsaid belts downwardly, Qsaid opposed walls between the walls formed ofthe. inner runs drive means comprising an electric motor driving a' ofsaid driven belts. 7 I v step-down transmission through a belt, a pairof References Cited toothed output wheels on said transmission, a screwJ TED A E P conveyor means beneath said deposit hopper receiv- M t v ingdough from the deposit hopper for conducting the 261,339 7/1882 y rrdough through an extrusion nozzle, a toothed input r p H 4 drive wheelfor said conveyor, one toothed wheel of 5601991 10/1900 Jfinkms 7- 0said pair of toothed output wheels on said transmis- 2,712,291 7/ 1955 f107-44 sion driving said toothed input drive wheel of'the 3,001,4859/1961 "CZlk 107-14 conveyor means through a chain, wherein theother v vtoothed output wheel on the transmission drives a FOREIGN PA1iENTS firsttoothed wheel of a pair of toothed wheels 10: 455,982 5/1928 Germany.cated on an independent shaft, the said first toothedv 490,353 1/ 1930Germany. 7 wheel on said independent shaft rotatingithe said 25,235 of1908 GEM Britainindependent shaft and consequently rotating the sec- 70nd one of said pair of toothed'wheels on said inde- ROBERT B' R VExamine"-

